The Game Of Frailty
by Miao
Summary: Pharaoh Yami has no apparent weakness; But, after sentencing an ornery preist to death, he is plagued with a frailty. A weakness, that lives, breathes, and has stunning violet eyes. Now, he must learn to love his weakness or be mauled by the shadows.{YY}
1. The Game of Frailty

  
  
**-The Game Of Frailty-  
  
Chapter one: Game Of Frailty**  
  
Miao: Haya!! I soo happy you clicked upon my story! I could just die .  
  
Miao's Serious Side: -.-; And I wish with every ounce of me you would.  
  
Miao: =.= Errr-- WeLCome! I hope you like this It's er-- Never been done before ;; So, I be quite frightened.  
  
The Serious Side: Yes, I am quite fearful myself  
  
Miaoooo: If you like, please review! - They make me happy.  
  
Serious Side: -.-;; I despise you.  
  
Miao: O.O Ermm---  
  
Please enjoy! 

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The cool Nile breeze molded the Egyptian sands into a dull, orange sea. The ever-shifting dunes crawled smoothly like placid waves and crashed into the ivory palace walls. The wind had been particularly bitter this growing season and had been the author to much chaos brewing inside the cramped, sweaty streets of Memphis. The overly worked Memphites already were ornery with the political duels taking place inside the Pharaoh's grand domain, now they also had the fierce drafts, which heaved the coral sand into their already itchy eyes. Clearly, even Geb, the God of the Earth, was troubled with this disturbance in the majestic palace, so much, that he blew hardy winds at the aching backs of slaves and high priests alike; Even the pharaoh was not spared.  
  
The currents silently whirled in the young king's face and yet, his eyelashes didn't even flutter. Showing vulnerability to such puerile things was not in his dignified nature. Therefore, even with the harshest of winds, he stood as erect as a boulder, shielding himself and his kingdom.  
  
A boulder, perhaps, would be the best simile for his hard disposition; for, the outside can be rough or smooth, yet still as tough as iron. The inside just as tough and jagged. There is no tenderness to a rock; it holds no warmth. It is only knows the cold.  
  
His face did not so much as flinch as another gust of the chilling draught splashed upon him. His agitated gaze was not wavered by it either, though it's recipient desired it to be; The Pharaoh's cold stare could not be held for long.  
  
"Please," he asserted, resting his chin in his palm and scowling," do not inform me that you hauled me out of a crucial conference to attend to an artless embezzler."  
  
"W-Well," stuttered the bald, pudgy assistant, trembling on his knees before him," er-He stole gold from your high priests and your royal chambers, sire!"  
  
"And?"  
  
"And-He-er-cursed your glorious name with vile words! Oh, such putrid dishonest words they were, sire."  
  
"And?"  
  
The round man licked at his thick lips nervously, "and-H-He is the son of the great thief Aten, your highness."  
  
"_Who_?"  
  
"Aten!" Declared the man, his side ponytail swinging wildly." The bandit who plundered you for years when your father was in rule."  
  
"Oh," the high pharaoh sighed listlessly," that sorry excuse for a pilferer who always found himself in chains. Didn't I execute this filth after father's death?"  
  
"Yes sire, but this is his son. A sum of guards caught him sneaking though out the palace. He's being held this second, sire, awaiting your virtuous judgment."  
  
The Pharaoh Yami rose from his flaxen throne.  
  
"Lead the way, Serapis."  
  
Crowds of grimy palace slaves were circled around an equally grimy figure that was sprawled helplessly upon the stone floor. The mucky servants immediately knelt to their knees as the grand pharaoh and his sweeping silk robes appeared on the scene.  
  
" Where is the son of that grime Aten?" Demanded Serapis, his cheeks expanding like a bullfrog," he shall know the forbidding wrath of the wonderful-"  
  
"Thats enough." The pharaoh said, peering down upon the trembling servant, searching for the thief with narrow eyes.  
  
"Ah, you look exactly like your father, young Aten," his callous crimson eyes landed on a cowering, scraggy boy," though you are more malnourished and scrawny then he. What occurred after your father's execution? Did you and your family begin to starve because you found that you could not eat off my palace without paying up the deadly price?"  
  
The boy gazed up through his mop of oily black hair and answered with such a force that was not to be spoken with to the Pharaoh.  
  
"Yes, Pharaoh Yami, my family is starving, thanks to you. My youngest brother is dead, my eldest sister's baby has been miscarried, and my mother can no longer stand on two feet...All due to you." His pensive stare never wavered.  
  
The ruler grinned crookedly. This simple smile was famous through out the entire kingdom for being a quick death sentence. His lips only tugged at such ways when he was devising insane judgments in his mind. Young Aten was clearly aware of this as he began to back away cautiously.  
  
"I'm very pleased to hear that. Getting your foul family off my streets would be such an accomplishment," his smirk widened dangerously," for, as they say, the rotten apples do not fall far from the tree."  
  
Young Aten seemed to have recovered some sort of confidence and took a step forward.  
  
"My father was a great man."  
  
The spectators gasped at the boy's stupidity and cunning. No one spoke to the Pharaoh in that tone. No one.  
  
The young king chuckled lightly," your father was a filthy thief."  
  
" My father stole so we could eat!"  
  
"And for what?" Yami shrilled murderously," so his son could grow to steal as well? -To prolong the death that hovers above your house? He only made you suffer and loll in your own hunger, longer then you should have. What great man is he? Tell me, where is his greatness?"  
  
The honey-skinned boy quieted and lowered his eyes to the dusty stone floor. Yami took his silence as a confession.  
  
He lifted his hand and seemed to brush the boy away.  
  
"Kill him."  
  
"No!" Wailed Aten's son crashing to his knees." Please merciful Pharaoh! Not death!"  
  
"Not so confident now, are we?" Pharaoh Yami said, his leer widening. He had won this duel of words and he knew it. It bestowed him with an arrogant aura that made the now sobbing boy shiver even harder.  
  
"Please!" He cried, seizing hold of the Pharaoh's gold embroidered hem. " My family! They will die! No one has the strength to get food! They'll starve! Please, no!"  
  
"Un-hand me peasant."  
  
When he did not comply, Yami lifted an ominous hand to slap him away--  
  
--But a hand, soft with wrinkles, latched unto his before it could swing down and strike the sniveling boy.  
  
Yami knew who's hand had clutched his, yet he still questioned," who touches the Pharaoh?"  
  
The grasp released and Yami spun around.  
  
"Ah, old priestess Edjo."  
  
The woman he was addressing glowered at him through her graying hair. Her craggy hands were upon dumpy hips, seeming as if she was an aggravated mother scolding her mischievous child. Her pale hair, twisted in flaxen rings and fine mauve robes suggested her high place in society; yet not even she was allowed to touch the Pharaoh without his permission first.  
  
" So why have you halted my actions? If you had no reason, you shouldn't have done so." He stated when she did not speak on her own behalf.  
  
" This is madness, Pharaoh Yami!" The priestess Edjo declared loudly, in her wheezy, aged voice." You and I both know you are not cold enough to sentence a boy--Man to death for providing for his family!"  
  
"He broke the laws this kingdom has been forged on. 'An eye for an eye' they say." He conveyed, sneering," Well, I believe the amount of gold he has stolen will be worth his life in return."  
  
The priestess fumed, looking much like a pig with its pink snout stuck in the air. " This is cruel and unfair! It contradicts the morals your father-"  
  
"_My father is dead_."  
  
The silence over the small scene was intense and seemed to engulf every wide-eyed spectator, smothering any sudden thoughts that struggled to emerge. Only old Edjo had the courage to speak.  
  
"Your father was a good man with a strong heart. His heart was surely lighter then Maat's feather."  
  
"I have no father other then Horus!" He hissed suddenly.  
  
The ancient priestess beamed smugly. " Nudged a weakness didn't I?"  
  
He narrowed his eyes, retaining his anger inside.  
  
"I have no weaknesses."  
  
Edjo cocked a quizzical eyebrow. "Why, Pharaoh, everybody has their own frailties. Mine and this boy's, perhaps, would be our hearts." She put her saggy hand to her chest," I feel this boy's pain. It chaws at him like wild jackals. He is forced to either pilfer or observe as his family drops to the ground in blind hunger. He followed his heart. Therefore, his weakness is good."  
  
"No weakness is good."  
  
The senile woman smiled lightly. " Yami, what have I taught you? Was it not I who played with you while your father was busy? Was it not I who told you of the power of the heart and how overwhelming it can become?"  
  
"That," he said," was rubbish. The ill-logical side of the heart that houses this 'weakness' does not dwell in mine. Only pure strength radiates in me."  
  
"Every heart has its weakness."  
  
"I have none."  
  
"_You_," she declared," have to many."  
  
Another tedious silence instilled until Pharaoh Yami suddenly became enraged.  
  
"I told you," he spat lividly towards the guards," to kill him!"  
  
The guards began to haul away the limp figure that seemed to be made only from bones and cloth. He made no movement or sound, but silently took his punishment.  
  
"No!" Edjo hollered," this is in just! Where is your heart Yami, where is your heart?"  
  
The ruler smirked; He had regained his un-nerving control and his arrogance.  
  
"I stated before, I have no common frailty."  
  
"You are a monster," she seethed, ignoring the flabbergasted witness's wheezes and gasps," May you be dammed by your cold heart!"  
  
"Do you envy such a punishment as well?"  
  
"You snide snake! You wouldn't dare put me to death. I helped raise you and your father, you disgraceful little git!"  
  
"Priestess Edjo," He asserted, with an odd glint momentarily flickering in his eye," you forget to whom you speak. I am no longer your little pet who follows you aimlessly, I am the supreme Pharaoh."  
  
Her rage was too immense to bottle with sassy words. She began to yell freely at him, " you're still the little Yami who was scared when Ra slept and the world was dark. You're still the little Yami who was devastated at their mother's funeral. You're still-"  
  
"Quiet." It wasn't a request; it was a command by the high ruler himself. The priestess respectfully remained silent.  
  
"You have disrespected me for the last time. You let this lowly boy," He motioned at the seemingly lifeless figure, sprawled in the guard's hands," be your downfall. Because of this 'weakness of the heart' you speak so fondly of, I have concluded on allowing this runt to live."  
  
Priestess Edjo gazed up into the fiery crimson eyes, hardly believing. She had made an impact on one of his decisions? Her eyes lit up with joy as the heavy stone in her heart was lifted away. Was the Pharaoh truly softening?  
  
"And you may take his sentence."  
  
Those words rung through her head coldly, shattering every sense of sanity she possessed. The pharaoh had condemned her to death and now her fate was sealed like a tomb. She was to die a disrespectful death. The on- lookers watched in concern and curiosity, waiting for her to sob loudly like the starving boy had.  
  
Their jaw's dropped when she began to laugh.  
  
Her rich chuckle, tainted with distress and pain echoed through the stone corridors and reached ears that hadn't the slightest clue what was going on just a few steps away.  
  
" I see not what is humorous."  
  
"Pharaoh!" She finally said," in securing my future you've secured yours as well."  
  
He raised a questioning eyebrow. Had he made her insane with just his judgment? No, Edjo was stronger then that, both emotionally and magically.  
  
"Don't you see, naive one? You're hexed and I am your hexer! I curse you, here and now, before your people. I curse you, dear Pharaoh Yami!"  
  
" You say you don't believe in the weakness of the heart, well I'll make you believe! I curse your heart! I curse it with every fiber inside mine. May your weakness come upon you so powerfully, that it takes form. Yes, form, shape, body. Let him come to you, for he will. And when you try to think of anything other, he will flounce back into your mind. He'll be your only thought and only dream. He'll be both your gift and your demise."  
  
To the untrained ear, her senseless words seemed like random babble, but Yami, who was fully aware of such things, knew it to be more. It made the small hairs upon his neck spring and tingle.  
  
She smiled softly," but my dear Yami, I know you have been corrupted by this heartless world. This coldness has stolen your voice and your heart. I will give you a chance to gain the warmth back; a chance to feel that exhilarant sensation in your heart you once dubbed love. If you can learn to love your weakness, you have won this shadow game. You have beaten my curse. But, with every strike you deal him, your fate grows closer to the abyssal shadows. Love him and you win, kill him and your as good as insane. For he is have of you; the forgotten half you forgot much to early. Win, and your prizes are beyond words; a love beyond love. You will wake each day to Ra and praise him for the blessing of this bewitching graciousness. Lose, and your mind is given to the shadows to maul upon. Yugiou, can you beat the Game of Frailty?"  
  
"I-I can beat any game, but this is besides the point." He quickly regained his dispostion."You are just delaying the inevitable. Before my guards execute you, you should praise Hathor for your over reactive imagination. It bestowed you with a few more seconds of life. So long, Edjo, Priestess of the 16 Dynasty, and may Osiris lay 'peace' on your eternal soul."  
  
The guards began to heave the battered old woman away. Before they were to far out of ear shot, he made sure to speak clearly to the remaining guards:  
  
"Lock this filth away in the dungeons. See to it he starves to death."  
  
"Curse you, Pharaoh Yami! With every magical energy inside me I curse you!"  
  
He thought that would be the last he would ever hear of Priestess Edjo.  
  
------  
  
He strolled restlessly through the barren corridors with a single hand clutched to his temple.  
  
'Damn this forsaken headache!' He howled in his mind, asserting more pressure upon his forehead.  
  
He had to much to do to have such a headache. He still had to look over the scribe's scrolls on the population increase and meet with a European merchant who was to sell him foreign wheat. He also had his daily prayers to look to and his nightly duels. He could not lie out for even a day.  
  
Oh, but this headache was blinding. It made the solid world around him swirl and shift under his feet. The pain was shrill and sharp, like hundreds of tiny needles were being pierced into his head. Bells were ringing inside, pounding on his skull and shaking his ears. It felt like his mind was trying to split into two.  
  
And just as sudden as it came, it went. It seemed to blow away with the wind that had slipped through the window. How very mysterious...  
  
To make matters even more stranger, an odd sound arrived in the passage. A sound, the dingy walls hadn't heard in a sum of years, A little boy crying.  
  
Without another thought, Yami rushed to the weeping. He didn't understand why, but he did. Maybe it was the heart-wrenching innocence that fueled each tear, or the fact the sound was coming from a part of the palace no one but him and other royalties were allowed into.  
  
When he saw what was sobbing, his heart almost gave way. It was-- Him? No, no, that was just too foolish to think. This boy had the same crown of spikes, but looked nothing like his sturdy self. Yami's skin was sun kissed and resembled the sweetest of honeys, this boys was a pale alabaster, like a beautiful foreigner's. He was also considerably smaller, manifesting the appearance of a young child. He was leaning against the ivory wall, with his knees to his chin and humble arms crossed so his eyes remained a secret.  
  
"W-Who are you?" He found his voice to be softer then he intended it to be. It was demanding all the same.  
  
The boy gazed up into Yami's face, making him stumble backwards almost.  
  
He blinked his stunning violet orbs that were laced with pure innocence as another crystal tear rolled carelessly down his flushed cheek.  
  
"I'm your weakness..."

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The Serious Side: OO That, was the worst thing I ever read.  
  
Miao: X.x Err--- I hope you guys liked that. They'll be more coming soon! Er-- If you liked it ;  
  
The Serious Side: -.-;; Please, just drop dead.  
  
Miao: I told you, as many times as you say it, it won't come true.  
  
The Serious side: -.-;;  
  
Miao: If yuh enjoyed it or completely despised it, please review I'd love to hear from yuh. You can also email me if you prefer or-  
  
The Serious Side: -.-; Your trying a bit to hard.  
  
Miao: Er—Hope this didn't confuse anybody!  
  
The Serious Side: -.-; No comment.  
  
Miao: Ja ne ; 


	2. The Game of Disbelief

  
  
**The Game of Frailty  
Chapter Two: Game of Disbelief  
**  
Miao: Lookie! I am still here! , And alive!  
  
Miao's Serious Side: -.-; Sadly.  
  
Miao: ;; Ehh—A lot has changed! I have spell checker now! Wooo!  
  
The Serious Side: Not that that helps -.-;  
  
Miao: Eh....Also! Er—I changed my penname It got boring.  
  
The Serious Side: -.-; This one is just as boring  
  
Miao: Ehhhh--- Reviewers! I love you!   
  
Lan-Lan: ;; That's sooo nice Usually people don't comment on my writing much, but its good someone thinks I can write. Thank you soooo much for you comment it made the world . THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
Abby-WCD- YuP! Glad you the summery. Yuugi ish Yami's weakness - Everyone knew already of course, just taking it to the extremes. Insane Yami- Sexxxy. THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
Destiny's Dragon: Glad you think its interesting! Heres more! THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
TJ: I'm glad you liked it Being the arrogant all-mighty powerful pharaoh does suit Yamster THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
Kyliah: Glad you like! Heres more! THANKS FOR REIVEIWN!  
  
Strega: Serious side: -Rub's head viciously- ow.  
  
Awww, I'm glad you think its original. Bwhaha, my spelling should seem better in here because I finally, after months and months of nagging, made my parents give me Word Perfect. I have spell checker wooop! Though it seems now that everything I write is illuminated which angers me. Good thing I don't have to write this on paper, ne? I am a sucker for those fics too. They make me supa happi! THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
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Silver Dragon: Hehe, heres the rest! How come your happier then you've ever been in your life? Just a good day, perhaps? THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
Dreamer Wolf: Glad you think it's a good idea THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
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Rikainiel: Hehe glad you like Yami's weakness! I like him too! So does Yami...Though not right now ;; THANKS FOR REVIEWN!  
  
LuridScreamer: Yah, crap happens. Thanks for reviewn!  
  
OkaaaY! If you weren't here now then you will be next chappie, otay?  
  
The Serious Side: -Sings- I will murder all, blood on the wall. And all you'll see, is a bloody sea. La la la die- Genocide. La la la dum- Ocean of blood.  
  
Miao: O0  
The Serious Side: What? -.-;  
  
Miao: O0  
  
The Serious Side: -.-; Please review.

* * *

The beefy man's heavy but methodical footsteps echoed off the manicured ivory walls. His pace was quick, suggesting his urgency in rushing to his destination. Sweat was surging down his thick face as though he had just sprinted through every twisting corridor of the Pharaoh's grand palace. He gnawed silently on his fat pink lips. Clearly, as his symptoms implied, Serapis was either about to face the cold pharaoh or risk his life. Musing in his mind, he found that both conclusions applied in this situation.  
  
"Ah, Serapis. How good it is to see you this fine evening." A silky voice looming from the shadows conveyed. Serapis shivered involuntarily as the sly voice seemed to slide over his body like a sneaky serpent, constantly searching for the niches in a lie.  
  
"G-Good day Priest Set."  
  
"You have brought with you Selket's knife I presume?" He questioned, remaining hidden in the shadows.  
  
Through his nervous fidgeting and lip chewing, Serapis still managed to dart him a quizzical glance. The aura of the corridor seemed to swiftly convert from a warm greeting to sudden annoyance.  
  
"The knife I sent you by my servant, you imbecile!" he bellowed indignantly, his silky voice conspicuously absent.  
  
"Oh, y-yes." The portly man rummaged through his tweed cloak and retrieved a glimmering dagger that caused the holder to grimace. The blade was long and silver and seemed to collect a glinting red sparkle that glared malevolently up at Serapis. This knife made him more anxious with the delicately carved scorpion created from a ruby gem that was placed where the blade met the handle. Serapis didn't much care for daggers but he could not stand scorpions, and found himself wincing at just the slightest gleam of the florid gem.  
  
"Ah, it's a beauty, is it not? It harbors unique qualities as well as a few charms I've humbly passed unto it." Priest Set informed the round man. "If the dagger itself does not kill its attacker, then Selket's scorpion will be awakened and her poison surely will. Though that's the lineage of the knife itself. Considering these suspicious times we live in and peoples habit for digging their noses in matters that do not concern them, I concluded on adding a few complex hexes myself, including an undetectable healing charm."  
  
Caught off guard, Serapis stared befuddled into the shadows where he presumed a man was standing. "A-A healing charm? I thought we were supposed to- "  
  
"Of course we are you nitwit!" Set said, "I simply placed it on there so when the damage is inflicted and his life has slipped from his pale lips, the broken skin shall mend, but the internal affliction will linger for eternity. Not a soul will know he was stabbed and therefore the blame cannot rest with us. And even if they do deduce such, they will call upon me to investigate and I will inform them otherwise."  
  
Serapis could almost feel Set's smirk blazing unto him like the fiery sun on the neck of a slave. He truly wished he'd never been mixed into this mess. He did detest the Pharaoh, just as much as anyone else, but still that was no reason to –-Well, do what they were planning on doing.  
  
"B-But when do-"  
  
"When he is alone, of course." The priest replied, then adding in a slightly bemused voice. "What did you think you were going to do, run out in front the royal court swinging wildly like some mad man?"  
  
Serapis shrugged feeling the heat rush to his cheeks. He hated being humiliated and the only two people that seemed to ever do this were Priest Set and the cold Pharaoh. Frankly, he couldn't stand either of them, but if he could just get the Pharaoh out of the way then perhaps on a mysterious day Priest Set would follow in suit.  
  
"No, no," Set said lightly. "You have to make sure you are not seen by anyone, not even the lowliest slave. Those grime would tell in a minute if offered gold or their freedom. No, no, he must be alone. Kill no more then him. If there are others dead, then the limitless mouths of those wretched midwives will fly off and only Rah knows who actually believes their mixed up nonsense, but believe me someone will."  
  
His heart sinking horribly into his vast gut, Serapis glanced up into the eyes of the shadows.  
  
"Tonight---?"  
  
"---Will be perfect."  
  
Silence enveloped the hall like the dying orange sunlight. The fat man found his feet shuffling back and forth, nervously tinkering with the loose stone underfoot. A question was begging to surface and before Serapis could stifle it, it tumbled out into the dangerous open.  
  
"Priest? May I ask why exactly you desire to kill the Pharaoh so? I mean—We all dislike the cold hearted bastard but, why have you—"  
  
"Do you really want to know?" He hissed, stepping out from beneath his veil of shadow. Serapis found himself face to face with Priest Set, through he could not study the man any further then his eyes. Those callous pitiless eyes were an icy frigid blue that seemed to bottle a force so strong that it kept Serapis's own beady brown orbs focused on them and them only.  
  
"He simply reminds me to much of my father." He said conversationally then glancing out the window at the golden setting sun. "They'll be a bloody sunrise tomorrow."  
  
Serapis shuddered and fumbled the dagger in his hands.  
  
-------------------------------------- -------  
  
"You're my w-what?" The Pharaoh sputtered gaping down at the humble boy.  
  
"I'm your weakness." He replied simply as a tear followed the trail left by its counterparts. "Aren't you happy to see me?"  
  
Yami blinked and countered quite stupidly. "Why would I be—"  
  
"B-But you're s-supposed to loves me." The little one said melting Yami with his all too innocent gaze.  
  
"Wh-Who are—"  
  
The sound of footsteps caused the pharaoh to swallow the rest of his sentence. If caught with this young boy, the wrong impressions may have been made. Only he and other royalties were aloud in this particular section of the mammoth palace. On another day perhaps, Yami would have proceeded on sentencing this child to wander the orange sands until he collapsed in blind hunger, though not today; not after what the Priestess Edjo had said. A very miniscule part of him was beginning to wonder if her babble had been more then just a condemned one's final say. Besides, this boy was so vulnerable and appeared utterly helpless, almost like those fine porcelain dolls the merchants had persuaded him to buy fifteen of, just so he could admire their artificial beauty. Though this boy's beauty was anything but artificial. In a rush of panic, he clutched the small boy's slender wrist and jerked harshly.  
  
"Doesn't matter who you !"  
  
He hauled 'his weakness' into his majestic and very private chambers, where only his personal servants and he had ventured before. The sweet fragrance of the Nile's lilies glided in between the swaying curtains, as did the last rays of the flaxen sun. Yami swung the unknown boy unto the bed and scowled down at him. He seemed to have regained his grand aura of superiority.  
  
"Answer me, truthful now boy," He spat, "I will handle no more of this incompetent jabber. Who are you and what are you doing in this part of my Palace?"  
  
The young one furrowed his eyebrows and looked up at Yami as those he was a raving loony. "I'm your weakness."  
  
"As you said before!" He hissed violently. "I want the truth! Who are you? Who sent you? Where did you come from? Why are you here?"  
  
The pale boy blinked. "Why do you ask so many questions?"  
  
"Just answer them!" He hollered, his booming voice shaking the sturdy stone floors. He was not accustomed to people defying him and he'd never become used to such.  
  
The child cowered and sniffed. "Why are you yelling at me?"  
  
The Pharaoh's sympathy for the frail boy was snuffed out by his dangerous temper. He struck the boy hard across the cheek though he instantly wish he hadn't. His own face burned as though he had just slapped himself. His brow furrowed in confusion, he gawked down at the small boy who's own hand was clasped to his cheek.  
  
"Y-You hits me." Fresh tears began to glide down his swollen cheek and he began to shiver.  
  
Yami's gaze softened considerably as well as that trademark frigid tone. "I-I'm—er—S-Sorry." He said, though through his tone it sounded meaningless, "but could you please stop crying?"  
  
Oh Rah, this boy has me apologizing, the pharaoh thought sorely, but I am truly sorry. It hurt me to after all, which is one of the strangest things I've ever felt.  
  
Yami waited impatiently for the tears and sniffling to stop until questioning him further.  
  
"Now, answer my questions, child."  
  
The small boy seemed befuddled. "What questions?"  
  
Yami sighed. This was going to be harder then he thought.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"You're weakness."  
  
"Where did you come from?"  
  
"You're heart."  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"To saves you."  
  
The pharaoh growled, slamming his fist unto a shaky bedpost. "Who put you up to this?" He raged, then turning away to think more deeply, he interrogated, "was it one of the midwives? Those scheming wretched witches! I should have their mouths gagged with papyrus! Or was it an outsider, for you do not appear to be from here. Who is your leader? Whom do you call master?"  
  
He whirled around again to find that the boy presented as though he hadn't heard a word the superior pharaoh had said. Instead, his attention lay outside the window on a fluttering pink butterfly that was sailing through the dying sky.  
  
"Are you--!"  
  
"Look Atemu! There's a flying pretty out there!" The young boy leaped to his feet and sprinted to the open window leaving Yami behind quite frozen.  
  
Did he just—Call me...Atemu? No, no I must be mistaken.  
  
"Atemu, Hurry! It's flying away!"  
  
To nervous to be angry, he questioned quite suddenly in a voice much unlike his own, "how did you---?  
  
For the second time that night, the child looked confused. "Isn't it your name?"  
  
"N-No!" He cried a bit to quickly, "I mean—Well, it sort of was but it isn't anymore. I mean—Ho-How did you know this? Not even my highest priests know this."  
  
His cluttered expression lingered. "I've always known it. It's the name you were given when you were born. Did you change it?"  
  
"Of course I did!" The pharaoh declared exasperatedly. "My father,"(He spat the word like it was bile) "had a good friend who worked in the Japanese trades. The moment his eyes met me he thought I was something of the darkness with my crimson eyes. The Japanese word for darkness is 'Yami' and thinking he was hilariously funny, he began to call me this. As I began to speak, I refused to accept anything but it for my name, for the darkness seemed more brilliant then some lineage name. It was also foreign, exotic and free, all of which I desired. So I kept it. And—Why exactly am I telling you this?"  
  
The innocent eyed child barred a grin that exhibited all his teeth. "This is a secret, right?"  
  
"Of course it is you dolt! If you dare tell a soul anything I'll—"  
  
He didn't pay the slightest bit of attention to Yami, who looked fit to burst into flames. Instead, his smile widened.  
  
"I have a secret?" He whispered excitedly, with the tiniest twinkle in his eye.  
  
Yami sighed listlessly, giving in. "Yes, an important secret that if you tell you'll find yourself in more trouble then you're in now."  
  
"Ooh I swear, I won't tell nobody."  
  
The boy contemplated the landscape outside, as if fascinated with the sheer brilliance of the dull sand dunes and boring stone columns. Yami wondered why he hadn't thrown him out already. Was he going to keep this boy to probe him further? Or was he—Softening?  
  
Oh Rah, I sincerely hope not.  
  
"Boy," he hissed, disgusted with the idea that he might be going as soft as a lily petal. "Why don't you leave now?"  
  
"Can't." He chimed, leaning over the balcony railing.  
  
Why did this boy defy him so much? Did he not comprehend who Yami was?  
  
He tried the Pharaoh superiority. "I order you to get out."  
  
"Still can't."  
  
As Yami drew nearer to the boy to haul him out by force, suddenly the child slipped over the stone rail and went hurling toward the orange sand below. Though the pharaoh, with his sharp reflexes born of gaming, grabbed him by the ankle and lifted him to his feet before any damage could be dealt.  
  
"Thank you!" He cried, embracing Yami's chest and nestling his head into the delicate silk. Yami was utterly repulsed though somewhat flattered. His cheeks coloring deeply, he muttered, "get off, get off," and shoved the warm body away thereby ending the fourth hug he'd ever received.  
  
"What's your name anyway?" Yami grunted smothering the wrinkles the boy had created on his robe.  
  
The angelic child gawked at him and the pharaoh remarked silently how sweet the slight curvature of his face was and how magnificently his violet eyes glittered into his, almost as if purifying his own cold stare and reflecting it back to arouse the opposite emotion.  
  
"I don't have one."  
  
The quiet, beautiful moment had ended and Yami was left sighing with agitation.  
  
"How can you not possess a name? Even the scummiest bottom feeders retain an identification."  
  
"But I don'ts."  
  
"It's don't not don'ts and you have to hold a name of some sort."  
  
"But I never gotten' one."  
  
Outraged by his atrocious grammar and lack of name, he blurted out. "Then you must obtain one!"  
  
"Okay," He tilted his head, "how?"  
  
Yami plopped into his chair that had held him securely through the worst of times and the most horrible decision he'd ever had to make. This boy almost made him sympathetic.  
  
"Where are your parents?"  
  
"I don't have any."  
  
Yami blinked and sat up straighter. "You're an orphan?"  
  
The little one shook his head and entrusted the pharaoh with his innocently helpless gaze. Yami recognized this stare for he had once worn it along with a forlorn mask as he stood above his pale, frigid mother who lay in an ocean of twisted sheets and stale sweat. No—He jerked his head—He mustn't think of that. It was in the past and he was in the present with not tool to convert the beforehand.  
  
I live in the present. What good can come from living in the past?  
  
"If you don't have parents, then where exactly did you come from?" He questioned restraining the urge to smile. It was fun chatting to children if only to mess with their already mingled minds.  
  
"I told you, from your heart!"  
  
Yami rolled his eyes and sighed with infuriation. "Are we still on this?"  
  
The boy's eyes widened and the shine in them dulled. "Why don'ts you believe me?"  
  
"Because this is far to unbelievable and sounds more like a child's incoherent blabber." He said, putting his hand to his head.  
  
The child began to pace the room clearly thinking of a way to prove his identity. After a few moments of the idle trail, his eyes lit up. "Look!" He chirped lifting his robe above his knee.  
  
"What?"  
  
"My scars!"  
  
"Your—What?"  
  
The boy pointed at a puffy pink scar that wrapped around his shin like a crude anklet. Yami was aghast. He slid off the golden ornaments that adorned his own shins to reveal the very same scar.  
  
"See?"  
  
How could this boy have the same scar? It's in the same place as mine and even looks the same distance. Wait--  
  
"How do I know you didn't just mutilate yourself like that?" He asked, the sinking feeling in his heart not disappearing with his assumption.  
  
The nameless child blinked. "Why would I do that?"  
  
The pharaoh narrowed his eyes and hissed in a low venomous whisper. "There are many who do not like the way I rule my kingdom. Perhaps you are an assassin here to make me believe what Edjo—"  
  
"No! No! I'm not! I don't want to hurts anyone! Please believe me!" The boy cried pleadingly, crashing to his knobby knees.  
  
Yami towered over the boy. "Get up you moronic brat!" He clutched the back of his ragged collar and brought him to his feet.  
  
From the day he was born, Yami had been bestowed with a wondrous talent. By peering into another's eyes he could discern if they were fibbing or not. It was the slight twitch in the pupil that mostly gave them away or the eyelid that became a bit heavy with the weight of guilt. He had mastered this rare gift over the years and could instantly single a thief from the crowd. There were very few who could deceive him...Perhaps only his father, Priestess Edjo, the obnoxious Priest Set, and of course his own mother who had affirmed to him with two eyes full of pain that she was quite alright and he had foolishly believed it. This boy's pure eyes held no trace of guilt or a sudden lurch of the pupil. He either was a skilled embezzler or declaring the truth. He would discover which with time.  
  
Flopping back into his chair and staring at the child, he examined. "So, you claim you are a game, am I correct?"  
  
The boy's face sparked up with a mysterious lively force and he nodded feverously.  
  
"And you haven't a name of your own?"  
  
He slowly shook his head.  
  
"Then I believe it is in my vast power to bestow you with one." After a few moments of deep pondering the perfect identification arose.  
  
"Yuugi."  
  
The boy provided him with a quizzical stare. "What's that?"  
  
"It means game in Japanese. My father's old friend used to bring me challenging games from the east and that is what he called them. I believe if you claim to be part of a game then it is only fitting."  
  
Eyes laced with joy, he nodded. "I loves games!"  
  
Yami rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Now, please be off with you. I need to sleep."  
  
"But I can'ts."  
  
"You mean can't and why can't you?"  
  
"Because it hurts."  
  
Sighing he picked the boy up by the back of his tattered robe and chunked him outside the threshold. Though a strange pain propelled through his heart and traveled through his very veins boiling his blood.  
  
"Wh-What is this magic?" He questioned in his strained voice, ready to fall to the floor in blind pain.  
  
"It happens when we're apart." The child alleged simply.  
  
Through gasps of pain he some how muttered. "Then—Get—Back—In—Here."  
  
It was a lengthy night from which pharaoh Yami would remember for his short existence. He had tried ruthlessly to make the newly dubbed boy Yuugi to sleep outside in the hall. Through when he had lain back into his warm silk sheets a cold swam through him like ice, freezing his limbs. He had found himself letting the boy back into the room before he knew what was going on. He allowed him two covers and a wheat-filled pillow and Yuugi nestled in right beside Yami's elaborate bed.  
  
"Yuugi?" He called after a long period of silence. He had been enjoying the warmth that engulfed him like The Nile on a particular hot day and had completely forgotten to ask this certain question.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Earlier, you said you were here to save me. What is it exactly that I need rescuing from?"  
  
He heard Yuugi shift in his makeshift bed.  
  
"Just yourself."

* * *

Miao: Whoooa that took forever. I'm so sowie you guys ; I'm horribly busy. I know you must get that a lot, but eh-I really am. I got so many ideas I want to write and I get all confused. Anyways I understand if a lot of you quit reading.  
  
The Serious Side: I would have -.-;  
  
Miao: I promise to be better! Please review! Oy! And please please please! Do not flame me on a count of Yuugi's really bad grammar...I did it on purpose I swear! I thought it made him cute ; ::Shrug:: Ooh well. But he's really not supposed to be a cute character. He's supposed to seem kind of pathetic and kind of annoying...er...almost. ::runs away from daggers thrown in her general direction:: 


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